Journal lubricating pad and process of making same



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 30, 1962 v. c. BARTH ETAL JOURNAL LUBRICATING PAD AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME Filed April 22, 1959 Jan. 30, 1962 v, c. BARTH ETAL 3,019,059

JOURNAL LUBRICATING PAD AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME Filed April 22, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS.

3,fil9,fi69 Patented Jan. 30, 1962 ice 3,019,069 JOURNAL LUBRICATDJG PAD AND PROCESS @F MAKHNG SAME Victor C. Earth, 4 N. 181 Church Road, Bensenville, 111., and Thomas W. Tirnmis, Villa Park, Ill., assignors to said Victor C. Barth Filed Apr. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 808,117 6 Claims. (til. 308-243) This invention relates to journal lubricating and more particularly to journal lubricating pads which include a gody of oil-absorbing material disposed in a casing there- This application is a continuation-in-part of our copending application, Serial No. 671,998, filed July 15, 1957 and now abandoned.

For many years the lubricating of journal bearings of railroad car axles involved the use of loose waste fibers, of either wool or cotton, saturated in a suitable lubricating oil and disposed within a journal box having an oil reservoir therein. The mass of loose fibers was usually disposed within the oil reservoir below the car axle and extended up into engagement with the axle so that oil would be wiped by the fiber mass onto the axle, as it rotated, and would then be carried by the axle into the journal bearing. While these waste fibers excellently perform their oil-wicking operation of feeding oil from the reservoir to the car axle, nevertheless the system has inherent operational hazards such as waste grabs which are carried into the bearing and cause hot boxes and other bearing failures.

Attempts have heretofore been made to obviate the foregoing problem. The use of other oil-Wicking materials encounters the objection that such other materials do not have the excellent oil-wicking efficiency of cotton and wool fibers.

It was proposed, long ago, to enclose the oil-wicking fibers in an envelope, or casing, which would prevent waste grabs. However, it was discovered that such envelopes have a tendency to pack-down and lose contact with the car axle, thereby resulting in a lubricationstarved, or dry, journal which would eventually fail.

It was next proposed to provide a lubricating pad which enclosed metal spring means in the fiber mass disposed in the pads envelope, or casing, but here again there existed undesirable features.

Thus, it is one object of this invention to provide an improved journal lubricating pad wherein the mass of oil-wishing fibers are enclosed within a casing therefor and wherein the mass of fibers are so arranged as to provide an inherently resilient pad which at all times tends to maintain a lubricating contact with the axle of the car which is to be lubricated.

Recently, the Association of American Railroads Code of Rules for the Interchange of Trafiic has adopted rules which will effect the exclusion of loose waste fibers as oil-wioking material for journal bearings. There is at present an enormous stock of such fibers in use and available to the various railroads representing a large investment.

The present invention contemplates, as another object, the reclaiming of the present in use and available stock of oil-wicking fibers and utilization thereof into journal lubricating pads which are inexpensive to produce and very efiective in operation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a very simple and effective method of processing oil-wicking fibers into a fiber body of a particular shape and construction which is to be used in a casing therefor to achieve the other objects hereinabove set forth.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize this invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

Preferred embodiments of this invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view, partly in section and partly in elevation, showing a typical journal box for a railroad car axle, which journal box is equipped with the lubricating pads of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a semi-diagrammatic illustration of the means of forming the annular body of fibers which constitutes the filling of the lubricating pads shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2;

FIGURE 4 illustrates the manner in which the annular body of FIGURE 3 is compressed and flattened diametrically to define an elongated body which constitutes the filling of the lubricating pad of this invention;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a. single lubricating pad embodying the features of this invention;

FIGURE 6 illustrates a modified form wherein two of the lubricating pads of FIGURE 5 are jointed together;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective View of a modified form of lubricating pad wherein two pads of the type generally shown in FIGURE 4 are enclosed. in side-by-side relation in a single casing;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged cross-section view taken substantially on line 8fi of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged cross-section view taken on line 9-3 of FIGURE 7 and with portions broken away to show certain tie means between the two pad bodies; and

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary, greatly enlarged view showing the tufting on the pad casing.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 designates generally a journal box of usual construction, and 12 designates the axle, or journal, which extends into the journal box. There is provided the usual bearing 14 and a wedge 16 Which intervenes between the bearing and the top of the journal box. The axle 14 is formed with appropriate axially spaced flanges, or shoulders, 18 and 20, which bound the portion of the axle 12 which moves into engagement with the bearing 14.

The journal box has a closure lid 22 which provides access to the interior of the box, and the closure lid is hinged at 24 to the upper portion of the journal box. A pool of lubricant is designated at 26 in the bottom of the journal box below the axle 12. A pair of lubricating pads 28 are shown disposed in the bottom of the journal box, in the pool of lubricant 26, and having their upper surfaces in engagement with the surface of the axle 12 to which lubricant is to be applied and which carries the lubricant up into the bearing 14.

Each of the lubricating pads 23 includes a cover 30 constructed of chenille, or tufted woven cotton duck or woven wool, or even of synthetic fibers. The cover 30 may be formed in any appropriate manner, such as being sewn to the appropriate shape with nylon thread, and so as to form an open ended, or open sided, envelope through which a filling, generally indicated at 32 may be inserted. The filling 32 of the lubricating pad 28 consists of a body of oil-wicking fibers, the particular construction of which will be described more fully hereinafter. After the body 32 has been inserted into the cover 30, the cover is closed in any appropriate manner, such as by sewing.

Each lubricating pad 28 is generally elongated, as seen in FIGURE 5, and the cover 39, therefore, is also elongated, as shown. Both longitudinal ends of the cover 30 are provided with looped fabric bands 34 to provide for ease in handling the lubricating pad.

Referring now to the filling, or body, 32 of the lubricating pad 28, said body is constructed in the following manner. A multiplicity of elongated oil-wicking fibers, preferably of cotton or wool, are wound onto a rotating mandrel 36 so that many such fibers are disposed in adjacent relation to each other in generally arcuate form surrounding the mandrel 36. The fibers, as they are wound onto the mandrel, go on in a generally random overlapping relation with respect to each other, so that the frictional forces of adjacent fibers serve to maintain the fibers in a generally coherent annulus 38, as shown in FIGURE 3. It is desirable to firm-up the annulus of fibers 38 so that the fiber annulus will tend to retain its annular shape after removal from the mandrel 36. Accordingly, it has been found that by brushing the elongated fibers as they are applied onto the fiber mass 38, such as by means of brush 40, the effect of the brushing is not only to dispose the fibers in generally arcuate form onto the mass 38, but also serves to apply tension on many of the individual fibers in the same general direction as they are being wound onto the mandrel. This brushing, or tensioning of the fibers, as they are applied to the fiber mass 38 on the mandrel 36 effects the requisite firm-up of the fiber annulus 38, so that when the fiber annulus 38 is withdrawn from the mandrel 36 it has an inherent tendency to retain its annular shape.

After the fiber annulus is removed from the mandrel it is compressed and flattened diametrically so as to define a generally elongated body 32 having an elongated central aperture 33, as seen in FIGURE 4. Because of the inherent tendency of the body 32 to restore itself toward its normal annular shape (as seen in FIGURE 3), when the body 32 is within the cover 30 therefor the lubricating pad 28 has the normal tendency to bulge in the center thereof and, thus, the inherent resiliency and tendency of said body 32 to expand causes the lubricating pad 28 to constantly maintain contact with the surface of the axle 12 which is intended to be lubricated by the lubricating pad.

As is clearly shown in the drawing, the diametrical compression and flattening of annular fiber body 38 from the original circular condition of FIGURE 3 to the condtion of FIGURE 4, wherein diametric portions of the body are caused to abut each other, efiects a reduction in the fiber bodys overall cross-sectional height to a dimension less than the maximum diameter of annulus 38 and to a dimension in the range of twice the radial thickness of the annular body, while at the same time the fiber bodys overall cross-sectional width is increased to a dimension greater than the initial maximum diameter of the annulus 38. The size of the flattened body 32 is such that when positioned in the oil-retaining well at the bottom of a journal box 10, as seen in FIGURE 2, the overall cross-sectional width of said body 32 is substantially equal to the spacing of the journal boxs upright sides at the region below axle 12, so that the lateral ends of the lubricating pad 28 are positioned to engage the upright side walls of the journal box to maintain said lubricating pad in position within the journal box while the upper side of the lubricating pad, under the inherent resilience of flattened body 32, is urged to engage the underside of the axle 12. It will be seen that the overall height of the flattened body 32 is no greater than the spacing between the axle 12 and the bottom wall of the journal box to permit positioning of the lubricating pad 28 as shown in FIGURE 2.

While a flattened annulus of only waste fibers will perform its function properly in the manner herein disclosed, in a preferred form of construction the annulus is formed of a mixture of cotton fibers and fibers of relatively greater resiliency, to produce an annulus with greater resilience, than obtained by use of cotton alone, and tendency to return to its normal annular condition. S uch fibers of greater resilience may be curled horse hair or hog hair and/or sisal. While these more resilient,

curled, fibers may not perform an oil-wicking function, nevertheless, a combination of percent cotton and 20 percent sisal, for example, when formed into a pad as herein described produces a body which performs oilwicking functions well and which has the inherent resilience that is required to keep the pad casing in oil-dispensing engagement with the axle. The use of horse hair or sisal should be in the range of 10% to 20% by weight of the annular body.

An alternate procedure in forming a fiber annulus 38, which is used in defining the filler body 32 of FIGURE 4, involves the providing of a multiplicity of elongated oil-wicking fibers or threads and passing same through a carding machine prior to their being wound onto the mandrel 36, thereby forming a ribbon with all threads under tension and running in the same direction. After an annular mass of carded fibers are thus wound onto a mandrel, the annular mas may be removed and treated as previously described to form the body 32 of FIGURE 4. It will be understood that sisal or other more resilient fibers may be intersperced with the cotton fibers used in this manner to form the annular body.

In the use of the invention, the lubricating pad 28 is saturated with journal box oil before inserting into the journal box 10 through the lid 22 thereof. The pads 28 may be positioned transversely, as shown in FIGURES l and 2, between the axle 12 and the bottom of the journal box 10 in single or multiple units, as required. In FIGURE 1 there are shown two such lubricating pads 28 in adjacent relation. Although the lubricating pads 28 in FIGURES l and 2 are shown disposed in transverse relation between the axle 12 and the bottom of the journal box 10, the pads may also be in serted so that their longitudinal axes lie substantially parallel to the axis of the axle 12.

After installation of the lubricating pads 28 into the journal box 10, appropriate lubricating oil may be poured into the box through the opening 22 and over the pads 28, for providing an adequate oil supply.

In the modified form shown in FIGURE 6, two pads of the type shown in FIGURE 5, are joined together along a line 42, which is disposed axially between the diametrically compressed annular bodies 32 which are disposed within the lubricating pads. The means of connection along the line 42 is illustrated as including a line of stitching 44, which is shown in FIGURE 1.

It is to be understood that the two pads 28, as shown in FIGURE 1, need not be joined together, as shown therein, but it is found that the joining together of pairs of pads in the manner as shown provides a convenient multiple unit lubricating pad which permits of ease of manipulation.

The manner of forming the filler body 32, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, is particularly desirable as it is a simple and inexpensive way of forming a filler body which accomplishes the results herein set forth. Also, the existing loose fibers which are presently being used in journal boxes of railroad cars may be salvaged and reclaimed and may be used as stock to construct the filler bodies 32 with the use of very simple equipment as herein described.

The lubricating pads 28 shown herein are not necessarily limited to use in railroad freight cars but may also be used with other journals where it is desired to lubricate them in a similar manner, and wherein it is essential that the pad be of a nature to maintain itself in contact with a surface to be lubricated and will not have the tendency to become flattened and spaced from the hearing surfaces which are to be lubricated.

In FIGURES 7-10, there is shown the physical form of a commercial device embodying the invention disclosed herein. The pad generally indicated at 50 includes a casing 52 and two pad bodies 54 and 56 inserted therein in side-by-side relation. The pad bodies 54 and 56 are initially of annular form constructed in the same manner as hereinabove disclosed in the fabrication of body 32, and are flattened diametrically to the condition shown wherein diametric portions of the pad body are caused to abut each other. When so flattened, the central opening of the annulus practically disappears and the pads 54 and 56 appear to have laterally elongated slits 55 and 57 therein along the length of which the diametric portions of the paid body effect abutment.

The completed pad 50 is generally rectangular in appearance as seen in FIGURE 7 and includes a sleeve like, chenille, cotton duck cover part 58 and two generally rectangular end panels 60 of plain cotton duck which are sewn to the edges of the sleeve of chenille to define the shape of casing 52 as shown. The sleeve 58 is sewn together at 59 with the tufted surface on the inside, and then by pulling the sleeve inside out the seam 59 is located inwardly of casing 52. An elongated strip of duck 62a is sewn to the inner side of sleeve 58 and extends the length thereof and has its opposite ends extending outwardly of panels 60 and sewn to the opposite edges of the casing 22 to define straps 62 which serve as convenient handle means.

A plurality of tie strings 64 located in the plane between the adjacent pad bodies 5'4 and 56 serves to divide the interior of the casing 52 into two compartments each of which snugly receives one of the pad bodies 54 or 56. Each tie string 64 also draws together, to some degree, opposite central portions of the two broad sides of the casing 52 in the manner as best seen in FIGURE 8. This tie string 64 also prevents ballooning of the central portion of the casing 52, thereby providing a very neat and eflicient lubricating pad.

To illustrate some specific sizes of pads that have been successfully used and constructed as shown in FIGURES 7-9, and considering length to be the spacing between the end panels 60, width to be the maximum lateral dimension in FIGURE 8, and thickness to be the maximum vertical (bulged) dimension in FIGURE 8, the dimensions of a lubricating pad 50, and weight of each pad body 54 and 56 used therein, is shown in the following table:

through a portion of the chenille cotton duck cover disclosed herein. The fabric sheet S carries a large plurality of high looped cotton yarns L which extend outwardly from the sheet S, thereby providing a soft, bibulous, surface that is eificient for dispensing lubricating oil therefrom.

While there has been shown and described certain particular embodiments of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A lubricating pad for use with railroad-car journal bearing surfaces comprising, in combination, a casing having a pair of spaced, rectangular end panels whose peripheries are joined to a sleeve-like, flexible, oil-wicking, tufted cover, and a lubricating-pad-body of oil absorbent material inserted in and enclosed in said casing, said body being initially in the form of an axially elongated, circular annulus consisting of oil-wicking waste fibers which are arranged and disposed in generally arcuate, overlapping relation to each other with said fibers pulled under tension in one general direction so as to yield an annulus which is firmed-up throughout its radial thickness and which tends to retain its initial annular shape, and said annular body being compressed and flattened diametrically within said casing, for entrance into an oil-retaining well of a car journal, to a point where diametric portions of said annulus abut each other, thereby reducing the flattened bodys overall cross sectional height from the diameter of the annulus to a dimension in the range of twice the thickness of the annular body, while increasing the flattened bodys overall cross-sectional width to a dimension greater than the diameter of the annulus, and said flattened annular body being disposed in said casing with the ends thereof adjacent the end panels of the casing, so that the tendency of said flattened body to return to its original shape is transmitted to the tufted cover portion of the casing.

2,. A lubricating pad for use with railroad-car journal bearing surfaces comprising, in combination, a casing having a pair of spaced, rectangular end panels whose peripheries are joined to a sleeve-like, flexible, oil-wicking, tufted cover, and a lubricating-pad-body of oilabsorbent material inserted in and enclosed in said casing, said body being initially in the form of an axially elongated, circular annulus of fibers which are arranged and disposed in generally arcuate, overlapping relation to each other with said fibers pulled under tension in one general direction so as to yield a formed annulus which is firmed-up throughout its radial thickness and which tends to retain its initial annular shape, and said annular body being compressed and flattened diametrically within said casing and with the ends of the flattened bodies adjacent said end panels of the casing, for entrance into an oil-retaining well of a car journal, said fibers which are arranged in a generally arcuate overlapping relation to each other in the formed annulus being a mixture which includes a major portion by weight of oil-wicking waste fibers which are inherently of relatively low resiliency and a minor portion by weight of relatively nonbibulous fibers of high resiliency relative to the low resiliency of the waste fibers.

3. A lubricating pad for use with railroad-car journal bearing surfaces comprising, in combination, a flexible, oil-wicking, tufted casing, and a lubricating-pad-body of oil-absorbent material inserted in and enclosed in said casing, said body being initially in the form of an axially elongated, circular annulus of fibers which are arranged and disposed in generally arcuate, overlapping relation to each other with said fibers pulled under tension in one general direction so as to yield a formed annulus which is firmed-up throughout its radial thickness and which tends to retain its initial annular shape, and said annular body being compressed and flattened diametrically within said casing, for entrance into an oil-retaining well of a car journal, said fibers which are arranged in a generally arcuate overlapping relation to each other in the formed annulus being a mixture which includes a major portion by weight of oil-wicking waste fibers which are inherently of relatively low resiliency and a minor portion by weight of relatively non-bibulous fibers of high resiliency relative to the low resiliency of the waste fibers, the amount of relatively non-bibulous resilient fibers being in the range of 10% to 20% by weight of the annulus of fibers.

4. A lubricating pad as set forth in claim 3 wherein the relatively non-bibulous, high-resilience fibers are sisal.

5. A lubricating pad for use with railroad-car journal bearing surfaces comprising, in combination, a casing having a pair of spaced, rectangular end panels whose peripheries are joined to a sleeve-like, flexible, oil-wicking, tufted cover; a pair of similar lubricating-pad-bodies both inserted in and enclosed in said casing in symmetrical side-by-side relationship, each lubricating-pad-body being initially in the form of an axially elongated, circular annulus consisting of fibers which are arranged and disposed in generally arcuate, overlapping relation to each other, with said fibers pulled under tension in one general direction so as to yield an annulus which is firmed-up throughout its radial thickness and which tends to retain its initial annular shape, each said annular body being compressed and flattened diametrically within said casing and with the ends of the flattened bodies adjacent said end panels of the casing, for entrance into an oilretaining Well of a car journal, and tie means engaging opposite walls of the cover in the plane between said pair of pad bodies and drawing said opposite walls toward each other, said tie means cooperating with said casing and said pad bodies to restrain lateral movement of the pad bodies Within the casing and to draw the walls of the cover snugly against the pad bodies.

6. A lubricating pad for use with railroad-car journal bearing surfaces comprising, in combination, a casing having a pair of spaced, rectangular end panels whose peripheries are joined to a sleeve-like, flexible, oil-wicking, tufted cover; a pair of similar lubricating-pad-bodies inserted in and enclosed in said casing in symmetrical side-by-side relationship, each lubricating-pad-body being initially in the form of an axially elongated, circular annulus consisting of fibers which are arranged and disposed in generally arcuate, overlapping relation to each other, with said fibers pulled under tension in one general direction so asto yield an annulus which is firmed-up throughout its radial thickness and which tends to retain its initial annular shape, each said annular body being compressed and flattened diametrically within said casing and with the ends of the flattened bodies adjacent said end panels of the casing, for entrance into an oil-retaining well of a car journal, and tie means engaging opposite Walls of the cover in the plane between said pair of pad bodies and drawing said opposite walls toward each other, said tie means cooperating with said casing and said pad bodies to restrain lateral movement of the pad bodies within the casing and to draw the Walls of the cover snugly against the pad bodies, and an elongated strap extending across the length of the sleeve-like cover within said cover and having end portions extending beyond the edges of said cover and outwardly of the casing and defining strap-like handle means for the lubricating pad.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 560,689 Churchward May 26, 1896 631,502 Hagy Aug. 22, 1899 2,089,664 Ripley Aug. 10, 1937 2,264,250 Shoemaker Nov. 25, 1941 2,485,901 McVicker et al Oct. 25, 1949 2,807,803 Rockwell Sept. 24, 1957 2,919,964 Evans Jan. 5, 1960 2,939,752 Rockwell June 7, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 397,868 Great Britain Aug. 29, 1933 

